


So About That Coffee...

by skillzyo



Series: That Sweet Something [5]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Mentions of Injuries, Waverly is certainly having a time, but nothing graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-13 22:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11194527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skillzyo/pseuds/skillzyo
Summary: After Nicole gets out of the clinic, Waverly finally treats her to a cappuccino at Shorty's, but not before they pick up a change of clothes from her apartment.





	So About That Coffee...

The sun was already high in the sky when Waverly pulled her Jeep up to the sidewalk in front of the clinic. She fiddled with the radio knob, the mirrors, and the seat position while she waited. Anything to dispel the energy residing in her very bones. Nicole would be out of the clinic soon, and they'd finally be able to go on that coffee da—outing.

Coffee outing.

Not date.

Great, now the butterflies were back.

The door to the clinic opened and Waverly smiled when she saw Nicole step outside, dressed in her uniform and squinting in the bright sunlight. Her arm hung close to her torso in a sling and gauze still covered the lower part of her cheek. A plastic bag dangled from her hand. As she climbed into the Jeep, Waverly noticed the bandages had been removed from the base of her neck. Dark lines of stitches peeked out from under her shirt and stood starkly against her pale skin.

Waverly tugged her gaze away and turned it towards the road.

“Thank you for the ride. You're a life saver,” Nicole said as she fumbled with the seat belt. “I mean it.”

“No problem."

“If it isn't too much trouble, could we stop by my place for a change of clothes before we go get that coffee?” she asked. “I think the uniform might be a little too formal.”

Waverly laughed. “Yeah, alright,” she said as she shifted the Jeep into drive. “Just tell me where we're going.”

It turned out Nicole was renting out the top floor of the Ramirez house outside of town. It was a popular home, one that drifters tended to occupy when they wanted something more personal than a motel but easy enough to leave when the itch caught them. As they approached the stairs on the outside of the house, Waverly found herself hoping that Nicole stuck around a little longer than the last wanderer who had rented it out.

Waverly followed her up the stairs, but with each step, Nicole seemed to fidget with her keys more and more. When they reached the door, she turned to Waverly.

“It might be a little messy. I'm still unpacking,” she said. “Been busy with work and all.”

“Don't worry about it,” Waverly said, her thoughts drifting back to the homestead, still in a state of disarray. She and Wynonna hadn't had the chance to get much cleaning done, and most of it still needed to be repaired. “Can't be as bad as my place.”

When Nicole opened the door, Waverly expected the living room to be overrun with half-unpacked boxes and clothes lying in a heap on the floor—much like her old apartment above Shorty's—but what she got was bare, grey walls and a small stack of boxes in the corner. Nothing personal decorated the room. Nothing to help shed some light on the woman who had charmed her way into Waverly's life.

“I'll only be a minute,” Nicole said. “Make yourself comfortable.”

She disappeared into the bedroom by the kitchen and Waverly used the opportunity to get a closer look around the living room.

Even though the walls were bare and grey, paint cans had been set by the unopened boxes of Nicole's things. Waverly made a note to offer some assistance with the painting project, especially if Nicole was as busy as she said she was. The boxes beside the paint cans had 'Kitchen,' 'Bathroom', and 'Pantry' scrawled across them in loopy letters. The one labeled 'Living Room' had already been emptied and Waverly wondered if this stuff truly was all the personal items Nicole had brought with her. No family photos. No trinkets or statuettes. No strange scrap-booking project covering the walls.

Nothing.

The only thing in the living room that seemed to hold any kind of history was the fuzzy blue couch in the middle of the room, but even that was well maintained and nearly pristine. The closest she came to finding anything remotely personal was a bright card on the end table beside the couch. Waverly picked it up and turned it over in her hand. It was a birthday card, and Waverly grinned at the image of the vibrant magenta unicorn on the front. She traced her finger over the goofy letters scrawled across the unicorn's chest that read, “I hope your birthday is like making sweet love to a unicorn.”

“Hey.”

Waverly squeaked and dropped the card on the floor. Nicole leaned against the doorjamb. The khakis of her uniform had been replaced with a pair of black jeans, but she still wore the uniform top. The sling was gone, but she kept her injured arm tucked close to her torso. A simple, maroon sweater was clutched in her hand.

“What? H-Hey there yourself,” she said as she fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, avoiding the amused expression on Nicole's face. “I wasn't touching anything, I swear.”

Nicole laughed and stepped into the living room. She set the shirt on the couch and picked up the card from the floor.

“You're a terrible liar.” After she settled it back on the table, she rubbed the back of her neck with her good hand and said, “From a friend back home. She had a weird sense of humor. She thought that card was hilarious.”

“Do you miss her?”

Waverly thought she already knew the answer. Of all the personal things Nicole could have put on display in her new place, she had chosen a goofy birthday card as a reminder of home. But she found herself wanting to hear more about Nicole's life from the woman herself. To listen to her soothing voice and hear the inflections in her tone. That, and she really liked to have her suspicions confirmed.

“It's complicated.”

There was a heaviness behind the two words, weighed down by all the implications they held. Then Nicole shook her head and lay the card flat on the table so the bright unicorn no longer watched them.

There were secrets there, Waverly realized.

And hurt.

Before she could wrap her thoughts around what their history may have been, she noticed the splash of red coloring Nicole's cheeks.

“I really hate to ask you this, but back at the clinic, one of the nurses...” Nicole dropped her gaze to the carpet and mumbled, “Could you help me with this?”

Waverly smiled and reached for the buttons of Nicole's uniform.

“I guess this is one way to pay you back for getting me out of my shirt at Shorty's.”

Her fingers stilled as she realized how that sounded. Judging by the smile on Nicole's face, she realized how it had sounded, too. Waverly rolled her eyes and continued with the task at hand. When she undid the last of the buttons and the shirt opened, her gaze was drawn to the long lines of stitches that had been hidden beneath. The night the Revenant had attacked them in the street, she hadn't seen the full extent of Nicole's injuries. In the clinic, the marks had been hidden beneath the medical gown. Now they were in the open, and Waverly could see the price Nicole had paid for trying to help her.

Guilt clawed at her insides, and her hand hovered over the wounds.

“I'm sorry,” she whispered.

“I'm not,” Nicole said. “Maybe I don't quite understand what happened the other night, but I know I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I just left you there alone.”

The words took Waverly by surprise, as did the earnest expression on Nicole's face. She had grown accustomed to being left to fend for herself—by Wynonna, by Champ—so she wasn't sure what to make of Nicole, who had stayed when she had every reason to bolt.

The gesture touched her in a place no one else had. A place she had kept locked away from Champ knowing that, despite his best efforts, he would only ruin it if she ever let him in.

Waverly cleared the lump from her throat and focused on helping Nicole ease the shirt over her injured arm. A hiss of pain followed, but then the top was off, clutched in Waverly's hand as she tried to look anywhere but at Nicole's chest and the marks that marred the pale skin.

“Waverly?”

“Hm?”

“When you're done staring at the water stains on my ceiling, can you hand me my other shirt?”

Waverly's cheeks burned, but she nodded and swapped the uniform top for the fuzzy sweater Nicole had brought out of her room. After some careful maneuvering of Nicole's arm, her torso was fully covered once more and Waverly could safely look at Nicole without worrying about catching an eyeful of something she wasn't supposed to see. The sweater hung loosely from Nicole's frame and looked more comfortable than the uniform top.

Maroon was definitely a good color on Nicole.

“Good thing you're not some guy, yeah? Or that would've been really awkward.”

Waverly laughed and shook her head. “Come on, Officer,” she said, “I believe I owe you a coffee.”

Nicole grinned, putting those charming dimples on display, and in that moment, Waverly knew she was doomed.

* * *

When Waverly led Nicole into Shorty's, she was pleased to find the usual day drinkers were the only ones that occupied the bar. The two of them slid into one of the many vacant booths and it wasn't long before Gus approached. Once they had ordered, Gus lowered her notebook and turned her attention on Nicole.

“Officer Haught, right?” she asked, and Nicole nodded. “Well, you have my thanks. Consider your drink on the house today.”

“No!” The outburst earned Waverly a glare from the older woman, along with a few curious pairs of eyes on her. Waverly sank in her seat and mumbled, “I'm trying to repay her for her help. Kinda ruins the gesture if her drink is already free.”

Gus raised her eyebrows, then looked back at Nicole, who offered a shy smile that brought the butterflies back to life in Waverly's stomach even though it wasn't directed at her.

“I see,” Gus said. “Well then, I suppose I'll have to find another way to thank you.”

“That's really not necessary,” Nicole said, but Gus was gone before she could finish the sentence.

“No changing her mind now, Officer Haught,” Waverly teased.

“I guess not,” Nicole said. Then she leaned forward and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. There was a twinkle in her eyes as she said, “Y'know, even if she did cover the coffee, there's another way you could have made it up to me.”

Waverly leaned over the table as well, holding Nicole's warm gaze. “Oh really?” she asked, and Nicole nodded. “And just what might that be?”

She glanced down at Nicole's lips. Her breath caught in her throat when Nicole leaned in even closer and her heart hammered in her chest. She was starting to think she was playing with a fire she wasn't ready for just yet.

“Well, Waverly,” Nicole whispered, “you could call me by my first name.”

A grin followed the words, and a flood of relief washed over Waverly. Still, a spark of something crackled between them, and Waverly had to lean back in the booth again to escape it. Nicole mimicked her actions, but the smile remained on her face.

“Your drinks.”

Gus's voice startled both of them before two cups were placed on the table. Waverly shrank beneath the curious gaze being leveled at her, then breathed a sigh of relief when Gus returned to the bar, giving Nicole and her some privacy.

“She means well,” Waverly said before taking a sip of her coffee.

Nicole's brow knitted together. “She's your... Aunt?”

“Technically, no,” she said, shaking her head, “but her husband and my daddy were close friends, so she might as well be family.”

If Nicole had heard anything about Ward Earp and the circumstances surrounding his death, she didn't mention it. Instead, she only nodded and sipped from her cup. Waverly was happy enough to let the comfortable silence fall over them. It was a breath of fresh air, but Waverly knew it couldn't last.

Not with the Revenants targeting her and her sister.

Not when Bobo del Rey wanted to speak with her.

And definitely not with the Earp Curse looming over the town.

Still, she continued to sip her coffee and cast shy glances towards Nicole, who, for all her swagger earlier, seemed just as bashful as Waverly at the moment.

No, the peace wouldn't last. One day, it would be broken and the playful butterflies fluttering in her stomach would be a thing of the past as the situation with the Revenants came to a head.

But right now, as she sat across from Nicole and drank her coffee, all Waverly could bring herself to worry about was how to make Nicole flash that infectious smile of hers again.

The Curse could wait for now.

 

**Author's Note:**

> In Fate's Hands is being stubborn and won't cooperate with me, so I switched gears and worked on this instead, which has been filed away since last summer. I'm hoping it was enough to jump start my brain so I can finally work through chapter 11 of Fates.
> 
> Just so you all know, I wrote the bit about the unicorn card before episode nine ever aired, so that was an accidental reference to the show and I don't even remember what made me think to include it lmao


End file.
